Should this experience come as a surprise to any of us? The key sentence in this piece is, "It makes no sense to me that a test with the potential for shaping a student’s entire future has so little apparent relevance to adult, real-world functioning." My expectation was that the tests have very little to do with education and everything to do with politics. Articles like this indicate my prejudgment was correct, - - - and the teachers and students are stuck in the middle. Assessment is the fad de jour to find a justification for defunding education and other human services. As someone once said, "There is no substitute for a good educational system, but that hasn't stopped the American people from looking for one." Harry Pence Harry E. Pence SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus SUNY Oneonta ________________________________ From: Teaching Breakfast List [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nowak, Rhea ([log in to unmask]) Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2011 10:14 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Tomorrow's TB Meeting This is interesting: http://www.linkedin.com/news?actionBar=&articleID=959756384&ids=0NcPkMd3sPdjAId3wPdzkTejkVb30Sd3kPdjwReiMVcjkMdPwNdjAIcjsQc38Qc3oV&aag=true&freq=weekly&trk=eml-tod2-b-ttl-3&ut=0DI2Ew9Nfew501 Rhea Nowak Assistant Professor of Art SUNY College at Oneonta Oneonta, NY (607) 436-2827 From: "Greenberg, Jim" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Reply-To: Teaching Breakfast List <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2011 09:14:36 -0500 To: "[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> Subject: Tomorrow's TB Meeting TBers, This is a reminder that our last meeting of the semester is tomorrow at 8 am outside of Starbucks in the Hunt Union. Yesterday, at Senate, Todd Foreman announced that next November there could be a call for proposals, closely linked to our strategic or divisional plans, for new ideas. He showed a slide of the timeline for that process which I've attached. I'd be interested in talking about any ideas people have with an eye toward the TB group either submitting a proposal or encouraging a proposal from another group. For example, we recently talked about the interdisciplinary course ideas and global connectedness. Mr. James B. Greenberg Director Teaching, Learning and Technology Center Milne Library SUNY College at Oneonta Oneonta, New York 13820 email: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> phone: 607-436-2701 fax: 607-436-3677 Twitter: greenbjb "Ignorance is curable, stupidity lasts forever"